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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
BETZDORF, Luxembourg--Satellite insurers likely face a huge loss despite successful efforts to stabilize the orbit of a telecommunications satellite stranded in a useless sub-orbit, according to the satellite's owner.
Through a series of orbit corrections, SES Astra of Betzdorf, Luxembourg, maneuvered its Astra 1K satellite on Nov. 28 into a 180-mile-high circular orbit from the craft's original 109-mile-high orbit. The satellite can maintain that orbit for months while SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES Global, analyzes its options with the spacecraft, a spokesman said. Without the orbit correction, the satellite would have fallen to Earth within days, he said.
Still, the Astra 1K likely is no longer commercially viable, the spokesman said. He explained that the fuel consumed during the orbit corrections would considerably shorten the satellite's original 13-year lifespan even if the craft could be repositioned in its intended geostationary orbit 22,320 miles above the equator.
Numerous insurers cover the satellite, which is valued at $291.5 million euros ($289.8 million).
The problem occurred when the launch rocket's second-stage burn failed on Nov. 26.